CNN Suspends Roland Martin…

On Super Bowl Sunday, Roland Martin of CNN issued some homophobic tweets that got him in trouble with gay organizations and this blog. CNN stayed silent on the matter, until just moments ago, when it issued this statement:

“Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being.”

Regardless of what he said or whether what he said was homophobic or not, Martin should consider himself fortunate that it’s just a suspension. His network has gained a reputation over the past few years for firing people who say anything that’s perceived controversial.

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This entry was posted on February 8, 2012 at 12:45 pm and is filed under CNN . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Martin contends his tweet was a playful swipe at soccer fans, not gays. I’m not aware of a pattern of antigay behavior from him. If that’s the case, he does deserve the benefit of the doubt. He does worship at the foot of Obama, but no crime in that.

Maybe this will get CNN to stop using lame pundits (aka CNN contributors) as content filler. Seriously, ever thought of covering the news? Who CNN decides to fire/suspend/condone seems utterly arbitrary to me.

People not part of a certain group don’t get to decide what is and is not offensive to that group. G@ys were justifiably upset. That’s it. Ask yourself what kind of idiot tweets ‘just kidding’ g@y references. Have YOU done it? Me, neither.

Interesting that the words used in the US constitution are said to be subject to wide interpretation while those used in casual conversation – which unquestionably have multiple interpretations – are verboten if claimed as offensive by only a few.

“You can be a rock or you can be a pansy. Which is it going to be?” If you’re a guy who grew up in some parts of the country, it’s likely your dad asked you this when you were whining about doing a tough chore.

Interesting that you find an obviously h0m0ph0bic comment “open to interpretation”. Sometimes things are exactly as they seem. Roland Martin has repeatedly expressed disdain for h0m0sexuals. The problem is with him.

I can’t stand Roland Martin and whether he is suspended, fired or whatever justifyably or not matters little to me. He’s shown very little mercy to conservatives in such matters, so I’m glad he’s gone, for whatever period of time.

Apparently gays outrank blacks as far as victimhood, it appears.

But Larry made my day when fritz complained of his post not showing up.

I’m not bothered by anyone making occasional insensitive remarks about anything…be it Catholics, single Dads, doctors, or whatever other little group I fall into, nor am I bothered with the occasional ones about race, g@ys, twitching neuro patients, whatever. By “occasional” I mean “almost rare” and by “insensitive” I mean things with humorous value and the like, but none that are all-out attacks. If Martin has been doing this regularly then he’s simply a mean SOB and deserves to have someone smack the ish out of him.

Okay, ladies and germs, here’s a little something courtesy of the Washington Post:

Social news site BuzzFeed, however, pointed out that Martin has made questionable comments on Twitter before. In one tweet in late January, Martin told women they should send their man “back to the factory” if he doesn’t like sports, because he’s “defective.” In another tweet, he wrote, “I’m sorry. I’m not down with seeing men walk around with bags on their shoulder that resemble women’s handbags.”

On his Web site, Martin has called the actions of gays and lesbians “sinful behavior” and wrote that as a Baptist minister his wife “has counseled many men and women to walk away from the gay lifestyle.”

When comedian Tracy Morgan last year said he would “stab” his son if he was gay, Martin defended him on his site. Morgan later apologized for his comments.

Whether Martin’s jokes Sunday night were homophobic or not, one writer told the commentator they were “over the top” and “rude.” Martin was ever-defiant, however, writing back: “That was the point! To be over the top!”

The black community, particularly the religious black community, find sin in behaviors they feel stong obligations to oppose. It is no secret that the large Obama driven black turnout in the California election of November 2008 was a diving force in the Proposition 8 decision.

Are you even reading what I wrote? You can talk about h0m0sexuality as sin in church all you want. What you can’t do if you want to work in cable news is make derogatory comments about g@ys on Twitter. This isn’t complicated.

^ Sure you can. It’s an inalienable right. And anyone who cares to can verbally clobber him for it. As for his employer, they can do as they please unless it’s a violation of their contract with him, in which case he’ll get paid anyway.

If you work at a company, you had best not do anything to publicly embarrass that company and expect to continue working there. Certainly not if your job makes you their public face. Jimmy the Greek learned that the hared way twenty years ago after an interview. Twitter is just a self imposed interview.

Of course I’m readying your stuff, Joe. I hang on every irrational and angry word.

But, as you recall you said part of Martin’s problem was the “other stuff” surrounding his relationship with h0m0sexuality. That “other stuff” wasn’t stuff he necessarily said on Twitter, just stuff that was found out about him and his family.